In a serious blow to textiles minister Dayanidhi Maran, who is facing a CBI inquiry into the allocation of spectrum licences during his tenure as communications minister, the investigative agency on Wednesday informed the
Supreme Court that he had “coerced” Aircel founder C. Sivasankaran to sell his shares in the company to Malaysia-based firm Maxis in a quid pro quo for investing nearly `600 crores in his brother’s company Sun TV Direct.
The CBI, in a status report submitted on the probe for the period between 2001 and 2007 on the allocation of spectrum during the tenure of three communications ministers — Pramod Mahajan, Arun Shourie and Mr Maran — said the DMK leader had “withheld” his decision on the applications of Mr Sivasankaran for spectrum licences for his company for a full two years in a bid to force him to sell his stake to Maxis, which is owned by Mr T. Ananda Krishnan.
Mr Sivasankaran had alleged that Maxis had invested `599.01 crores in Sun TV Direct as a quid pro quo to help the company acquire Aircel.
“No action was taken on his (Sivasankaran’s) applications till the transfer (of shares) took place in the name of the Malaysian company. This man (Sivasankaran) faced coercive action to sell the shares,” the CBI’s special counsel K.K. Venugopal read out from the agency’s report, filed in a sealed cover before a bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and A.K. Ganguly.
“The licences were withheld till the shares were transferred. The gentleman (Sivasankaran) who was examined transferred the shares to the Malaysian company in 2006,” the CBI counsel said in response to the court’s query on when this had all happened and whether he had sold his entire stake.
Reacting to the CBI’s status report naming Mr Maran, the BJP, CPI and Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa demanded his immediate ouster from the UPA government, saying his position had become untenable.
The Congress, however, sought to steer clear of the issue, saying it was a matter between the CBI and the Supreme Court monitoring the probe.
“The resignation of Maran has to happen. Certainly his position has become untenable,” said BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman, while the CPI’s D. Raja said: “He has to step down, otherwise the Prime Minister will be held responsible for keeping him in the Union council of ministers even after the CBI’s statement.”
Ms Jayalalithaa went a step further, saying: “Maran should be sacked as there is no expectation of his resigning.”
In response to a specific query from the court on the Aircel-Maxis deal, the CBI counsel said the letter of intent was issued in November 2006 and the transfer of shares took place a month later, in December. “This gentleman (Sivasankaran) had been knocking at the doors of the minister for two years for the licence, but finally he had to sell his shares,” Mr Venugopal said.
He said the then telecom secretary raised several “frivolous queries” from Mr Sivasankaran, but this was only a ploy to “block issuing of licence” to his company. Though five other companies had also applied in Delhi, and several applications were received in seven other telecom circles, no such queries were raised against them.
“The queries were raised on frivolous and other unreasonable grounds. Obviously it was to block the licences,” Mr Venugopal said, adding that the preliminary probe into the entire gamut of allotment of spectrum licences during the period of the three ministers would be over by September 30.
The CBI at this stage appears to have given a virtual “clean chit” to late communications minister Pramod Mahajan, and the counsel said: “The minister is no more. Nothing significant so far has come during his period.”
He added, though, that a probe was on to ascertain if the telecom secretary during the Mahajan period had sought clarification from Trai about the conversion of the WLL licences of Reliance and Tata into UAS licences.
On the tenure of Mr Arun Shourie, who succeeded Mr Mahajan in the ministry, the CBI counsel said: “A detailed inquiry relating to fixation of rates (of spectrum licences) at 2001 prices is still continuing.”
While stating that the third chargesheet on the 2G scam, during former minister A. Raja’s period, would be filed by August 31, the CBI counsel also furnished details on the investigation into the role of some companies, including Loop Telecom and the Essar Group, and related transactions in foreign countries, including Mauritius and some other tax havens.
While no company was mentioned by name, sources later said the CBI counsel was referring to these entities.
Mr Venugopal said investigations were on regarding transactions in seven foreign destinations, where joint CBI and ED teams were operating. Besides Mauritius, the other destinations are British Virgin Islands, Jersey, Isle of Man, Cyprus and Singapore.